Kenneth David Kaunda, Zambia’s first president, arrived at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People to meet with Vice President Xi Jinping Thursday.
“I come on an important mission from my president,” Kaunda said to Xi, who hailed the 87-year-old politician as a “founder of friendship” between China and Zambia.
“You came to China despite the long journey as a messenger of friendship, for which I have great admiration,” Xi told Kaunda, who is visiting China as a special envoy of Zambian’s new President Michael Chilufya Sata, who assumed the presidency on Sept. 23 this year.
“Zambia and its new government will continue to promote friendship and cooperation with China,” said Kaunda, who led Zambia’s independence campaign and ruled the African state from 1964 to 1991.
The friendship between Zambia and China has endured the test of time, Kaunda said, recalling his meetings with late Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in the 1960s and 1970s.
During those meetings, China agreed to fund and build the 1,800 km-long Zambia-Tanzania railway. Mao’s “Third World” theory, referring to developing countries seeking national independence, also debuted during a 1974 meeting with Kaunda.
“The China-Zambia friendship, established by leaders from an older generation, is all-weather in nature. The railway is a historical milestone for our friendship,” Xi said.
Xi highlighted the mutual support demonstrated by both countries on issues concerning core interests, as well as sound coordination in international affairs and fruitful cooperation in various fields.
China cherishes its friendship with Zambia and will work with the country’s new government to deepen substantial cooperation, Xi said.
Kaunda said he appreciated China’s past support for Zambia in its drive for independence and reminded Xi about Africa’s efforts to help China regain its seat in the UN in 1971.
“Assistance from China and fruitful cooperation have fueled the development of Zambia’s economy and society,” Kaunda said at the end of their hour-long meeting.
[Xinhua]
This is what Kafupi failed to do, with all the graff following RB i dont think he will be able to work for Zambia as an elderly stateman?? shame on you RB.
Wow. Thanks KK.Â
Man of the people! KK is forever in my soul!! Great man! Have a safe trip back home with Mama Kaunda!
Great peice of journalism work Xinhua ba LT get something from this piece of preffesional journalistic work!
This is not fair to KK. he should be resting.
This witch hunting is getting out of hand, Austin Liato is a business man who treasures keeping home and this pf Government want to make it an issue, What is K2.1Billion cash for heaven’s sake?
I hope Sata knows what he is doing.It’s not fair to overuse KK becuase his age cannot allow.It’s ok to use him once in a while but not giving him full responsibility of going round mending a few potholes that were created deliberately by Sata,no. Nakana.Sata knew that the Chinese were very powerful,even America has come to accept this, but he went ahead and spoke against them and today wants to use KK to go and cleanup the mess.This is criminal bane.
@Tungati…..you are a fool…what do you know about the economy and the effects of inflation by some people like Liato making withdraws from the economy….naukula uletontokanya…Mbuzi…KK was the founder and he knows the chinese leadership more than anyone in zambia….read again when he had the first meeting:
The friendship between Zambia and China has endured the test of time, Kaunda said, recalling his meetings with late Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in the 1960s and 1970s.
This is the cost President Sata is paying for opening his mouth without putting serious thought to it. Thank God KK is still alive to help us rebuild our warm friendship between Zambia and China.
Analyst…”A senior fool knows who a junior fool is” and whatever the chicken u are, u cant tell anything bout economics…this blog is for opinions and observations…i advise u see a GP for a psychological check-up
Tungati and Analyst,you Guys have a lot of potential to debate constructively without getting at each others throat.These Politicians are crooks and it would be very difficult to defend some of their actions.The burrying of money in somebody’s yard is not acceptable because the money could have been put in the bank to generate interest instead of keeping underground.But the question i can ask is who told whoever went to exhume that there was money underground?I am getting suspicious with this whole thing.I hope we are not going back to the Chiluba days where the OP were used to plant a few things so that political opponents can be crashed.Well just suspicious and nothing else.
The garden boy?
If the Sata could use RB as well, Zambia was going to be a better place. We need to use RB and KK to build our foreign policy. We could be a show case to the world. Sata should continue fighting for the people while RB and KK should be busy with amending where our govt have overstepped. We are headed to economical freedom now.
DAVID KENNETH KAUNDA IS A POWERFUL MAN HE WILL BRING THAT DEVELOPMENT THAT WAS THERE MUMA 60’S WHEN WE WERE GROWING UP, IT WAS A GOOD COUNTRY TO GROW IN, LETS US WAIT AND SEE THE DEVELOPMENTS BANE SLOWLY BUT SURELY…. GOD BLESS BAKATEKA, LORD COVER BA SATA IN YOUR BLOOD FOR EVER AND EVER, AMEN… CHINA IT WAS DEFINITELY A LONG LONG TRIP FOR THEM, GOD BLESS THE KAUNDAS
#6 Tungati. Please stop insulting the Zambian people. K2.1 Billion is a lot of money
hehehe..is Kaunda the president again..?will sata ever manage to travel long distances..?the international community will have him a shadow presido..!
tired of this old kaunda thing eating our taxpayers money.what envoy?
@TUNGATI……..you are not in the corporate world… and i forgive you for that…..if you are like liato then you dont fit this blog….zambians are suffering at the expense of these crooks and you are in support of this shit…..reason my friend.check your spellings when posting my bro…it tells everyone something about your level of ……….you know what i mean…
Good move KK. The Chinese are particular about trust and friendship. Years ago, I mentioned to a fellow postgrad classmate that I was from Zambia. He was from China. He was very happy to hear that and told me about the Tazara rail line they built. They learn about those things in school. Let us just find ways of working with the Chinese and all other foreigner investors in a win-win way.
Also lets settle whatever RB has done in a legally justifiable way so that if he is not guilty, we can use him as an ambassador of Zambia for good causes. This is what the USA and UK do with their former Heads of State. Let’s be mature and function as adults. It will also encourage our current president to look forward to a respectable and useful future. Cadre mentality is not good enough.
ENVOYS DO A DEAL IN DEVELOPING ANY NATION AND KAUNDA IS THE GREATEST OPTION OF ALL. WE ALL KNOW THAT KAUNDA HAS DONE A LOT OF GOOD WITH A LOT OF TYRANNY (IN HIS GOD ABOVE AND KAUNDA ON EARTH KIND OF RULE) AND I FEEL ITS TIME TO GIVE HIM CHANCE TO AMEND ALL ERRORS MADE WHILE HE WAS PRESIDENT. HE IS WHOLEHEARTEDLY GIVING HIMSELF TO DO ONE LAST GOOD FOR THE ZAMBIAN PEOPLE. HE WILL NOT LET US DOWN.
@Tracy and Analyst……….
I hope u do understand what is material and what is not, what are u comparing to???? yo pockets??
U should also know that cash is an asset and an asset is subjected to the way the owner wanna use it or abuse it.
Talking of corporate world do u even kn the values of the corporate entities in Zambia, i think Analyst u 1 on the chaps that were employed to value the Assets of Zamtel……
Tracy don’t underestimate Zambians… Poor pipo are everywhere and its not gonna ever end, the global world has became capitalist oriented… argue with reasons and not like an empty tin or a headless chicken…. Spellings…while am not petty….
Well done ba Mudala please make sure we use them to develop our Road network, Sick of those trenches when I visit Zambia. The Roads are so bad. A trip from Lusaka to Kitwe takes so long because of poor single lane roads. We need a proper Dual carriage way.
I really appreciate comments made by # 18 Ice Road Trucker. Beautiful  and wise words. This is what is expected from those posting to this blog, unlike people drifting the attention of what is being discussed to their understanding of issues. This tends to mislead others. Good short Ice Road Trucker. Generally people from the East, tend to rely on trust. Having sent Dr Kaunda with whom, their predecessors did business with brought more confidence to this relation. More over, you shouldn’t forget the perception Chinese people have about Mr Sata. Of course Mr Sata need to re-establish a good relation with them (Chinese) but did well to send the old man who is still in good books with them.  Â
Kaunda has just been sent on a shopping splee, any memondum of agreements so far? apart from the usual praise of tazama railway , which we are still paying back to the chinese? Kaunda is not a president of zambia and cannot make any commitments, so the chinese will just give him personal envelopes only , not for zambia. He will go home empty handed, iam waiting for his meeting today with foreigners in china. Sata should have travelled with the oldman.
Kaunda is there to initially repair the damage done by Sata’s presidential campaign pronouncements against the Chinese investors.That’s the role KK is playing.
The reality is that China is an important player in world economics and Sata as well as the Zambian people have to understand this.But we all know that Sata bashed the Chinese investors just to win the votes of the Zambian people cause that is what they wanted to hear.After winning, change the strategy……..smart move.